A Mississippi judge has declared a mistrial in the case of two white men who were charged with shooting at a Black FedEx worker as he tried to deliver a package.
Back on 24 January 2022, FedEx driver D’Monterrio Gibson was delivering packages in Brookhaven, when father and son duo Gregory Case and Brandon Case chased him in a pickup truck and opened fire.
Mr Gibson, now 25, managed to escape unscathed in a shocking case that instantly drew parallels to the racist murder of Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.
The Cases surrendered to authorities days after the attack.
They were both charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle driven by Mr Gibson and finally went on trial this month.
But, on Thursday, Judge David Strong declared a mistrial in the case, citing errors made by a Brookhaven Police Department detective.
According to the judge, the officer had failed to provide evidence to prosecutors and defence attorneys and had improperly testified about some guns that were found in the home of one of the suspects, as well as gun shell casings found outside the home.
Defence attorneys had requested the mistrial and the judge sided with them, saying he had been left with no choice but to grant it.
“In 17 years, I don’t think I’ve seen it,” Judge Strong said of the officer’s actions.
The mostly white jury had only just begun hearing the case after the prosecution and the defence delivered opening statements on Tuesday.
Gregory Case and Brandon Case (pictured second from right and right) at their trial earlier this month— (AP)
During the state’s opening statement, District Attorney Dee Bates told jurors that Mr Gibson that day was driving a rental van with the Hertz logo visible on three sides.
The then-24-year-old had dropped a package off at a home on a dead-end road when Gregory Case used a pickup truck to try to block his van in and Brandon Case came outside with a gun, the prosecutor said.
When Mr Gibson managed to drive the van around the pickup truck to get away, the prosecutor said Brandon Case opened fire, with three bullets striking the delivery van.
Meanwhile, the defence argued that Mr Gibson was “in the wrong place” and refused to stop when Gregory Case asked him what he was doing there.
Defence attorney Terrell Stubbs said that Gregory Case saw a van outside of his mother-in-law’s unoccupied home after dark.
As he went to check what was happening, he said Mr Gibson didn’t stop the van.
“It was completely dark, completely dark, and somebody was in the wrong place,” he said. “It wasn’t my client.”
D’Monterrio Gibson was working as a FedEx driver at the time— (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
The shocking January 2022 shooting led to complaints of racism in the town of Brookhaven, located about an hour’s drive south of the state capital, Jackson.
An attorney for Mr Gibson also likened the incident to the murder of Arbery – a 25-year-old Black man who was chased by three white men in a pickup truck and shot dead in the street in the Satilla Shores neighbourhood of Georgia back in February 2020.
Now, the judge’s declaration of a mistrial will come as another blow to Mr Gibson after a different judge three out a federal lawsuit he brought against FedEx last week.
Mr Gibson had sued his employer for discrimination claiming that he was told to complete his route following the incident.
